Crazy Penguin Party

Crazy Penguin Catapult was a huge success for Digital Chocolate when they ported it from mobile to the iPhone. While we found it a bit choppy, the timing-based catapult mechanic really made it stand out. Now D. Choc has released Crazy Penguin Party, a minigame collection that takes a full-fledged belly flop onto the ice.

As far as content goes, Crazy Penguin Party is heavily lacking compared to similarly styled games. Only six minigames, none of which provide much depth or originality, are available: Free Fall, Rocket Science, Cliff Hanger, Diving, Crazy Spin, and Blowfish Rodeo. Each has five different levels to play.

Not quite Doodle Jump.

Free Fall is similar to Hippo High Dive, although the controls aren’t quite sensitive enough to give you full control over the daring penguin. At the end of the level, you must try to land as close to the center as possible to beat your opponent into a hot tub full of penguin babes. Another minigame is Cliff Hanger, which is a Doodle Jump clone where you bounce on the bellies of those pesky bears. Again, the tilt controls are a hassle and there is nothing here that would convince us to choose it over similar titles.

The Diving game shows potential, but a confusing and extremely clunky control scheme makes it frustrating. The goal is to get your penguin past the finish line before an octopus eats you. However, the penguin continuously spins in circles. To speed him up or change direction, you must tap on certain areas of the screen. Even after getting a feel for the mechanic, the jerky animation and low frame rate make it a chore.

Let’s get tentacled.

Crazy Spin involves swiping your finger in the direction you want your penguin to skate. The tight paths and imprecise controls take out any fun that could have been had here. Rocket Science also has promise, but the awkward tilt controls to fly your penguin from iceberg to iceberg are not responsive enough.

We did enjoy Blowfish Rodeo, in which the penguin sits atop a blowfish, which you can inflate by holding a finger down on the screen. With the proper timing, you can hit the ground when the blowfish’s size is at its max and propel it forward. The lack of variety is a downer, but a game based on this kind of gameplay is something we would be interested in seeing more of.

The clunky controls and horrible framerate make Crazy Penguin Party feel like a sub-par mobile port. It does sport a good deal of personality, but a lack of enjoyable minigames and in-game advertisements for other Digital Chocolate games hamper this title. Slide away from this game, and waddle towards something deeper.

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